Flutter vs. React Native: Which works better in Framework I in 2020?

by Chris Bernard Professional Blogger

Flutter and React Native is highly powerful, yet are open source frameworks and highly powerful. Apart from ensuring fast coding and bug fixing to the developers, they both support one codebase for multiple operating systems. While React Native was released by Facebook in 2015, Flutter was only introduced recently in 2018 and there are a lot of things we need to understand about them.

Google’s Flutter

A popular framework by Google that provides software development kits to developers, Flutter has helped developers create incomparably compiled applications for mobile, desktop, and the web using a single codebase. In spite of being an amateur in the community, it has managed to score 94.9 stars on GitHub and has contributions in the development of most recent applications like Google Ads app, the Hamilton Broadway Musical app, Alibaba, eBay, Square and more.

React Native

Well known for its cross-platform framework, React Native was chosen by 42% of all developers for app development and had the 2nd highest number of contributors in 2018. However, today many leading companies and individuals including Microsoft, Expo, and Software Mansion support React Native. Based on popularity alone, it has given the world fascinating applications like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Uber Eats, Tesla, and more. You can also easily hire React Native developers.

Detailed Comparison

1. Popularity: On grounds of cross-platform application development, both the frameworks are very close to each other in terms of popularity. Given that they are both relatively new and have huge community support, they are almost equally ruling the community. React Native was launched earlier to Flutter and has a bigger support community, but Flutter being Google’s baby will probably soon catch up to React Native. Flutter is more popular in countries like Kenya, China, Bangladesh, Japan, and more, whereas React Native is popular in Canada, Argentina, Belarus, and more.

2. Programming Language: When hiring a Mobile Application Development Company, it is a significant factor to understand how efficient their team is on a certain programming language. React Native is already mentioned in JavaScript making it the most preferred software development programming language for developers, but Flutter uses Dart considering it as an object-oriented programming language. In addition, JavaScript holds an important position in modern application developments and is considered the default language for most browsers that is why many people tend to hire a React Native development company. However, Dart is an expressive and secure language to begin with making Flutter a frequently used framework for desktop and mobile applications.

3. Learning Curve: for a developer, react native is comparatively easier to learn. Javascript is its programming language that has been around for years, this makes the possibility for a large number of developers to already be familiar with it. Whereas, flutter uses dart which is comparatively new but not necessarily difficult to learn. As it is new, it requires a slightly more effort to understand the basics of this platform. This might need developers to extend their learning capabilities.

4. Performance: In Mobile Application Development, application performance is the most important thing everyone looks for. Although React Native is a powerful language, it is, unfortunately, slower than Flutter. React is made of Native and Javascript languages, so to increase performance the developers have to combine native features into the Javascript programs. But in the case of flutter, there is no need to combine additional components for the OS keeping the performance smooth and fast. Dart comprises C++ ensuring boosting performance and has the capability of handling issues by itself leading to excellent User Experience (UX).

We have tried to present the facts and figures of both frameworks without being biased. The simple aim was to carry out a detailed comparison between Flutter and React Native to help developers pick the right framework for their development according to their needs and skills. Flutter is a strong competition to React Native and overtakes it at some points and vice versa.

Overall, both Flutter and react Native are strong cross-platform app development options that ensure convenient app development experience for a developer. A mobile app development company will be able to guide you further.